Documentation of working hours: “Obligation to record time now applies”

The reasoning for the judgment on the documentation of working hours clarifies some questions. However, since the future rules have not yet been laid down by law, employers are apparently not yet threatened with penalties for violations.

Ahessian employers do not understand the full judgment of the Federal Labor Court on the recording of working hours. “The decision of the Federal Labor Court, according to which the beginning, end and breaks of work must be recorded, stands in the way of the digitization of the working world and the global relationships of the economy,” comments Dirk Pollert, Managing Director of the Association of Hessian Business Associations, and adds: “The The decision unnecessarily anticipates the forthcoming regulations on recording working hours, which are laid down in the coalition agreement.”

The unions see a gain for the workers in the court’s appeal to occupational safety and health. “The number of overtime hours worked has been at a high level for years. 1.7 billion hours of overtime are worked every year and around half of them are not even compensated,” explains Michael Rudolph, district chairman of the DGB Hessen-Thüringen. It is part of occupational health and safety that rest and maximum working times are observed. “The basis for this is the recording of working hours,” says Rudolph, so the decision is to be welcomed.